Members of the U.S. health insurance industry saw their shares plummet after UnitedHealth

 

Members of the U.S. health insurance industry saw their shares plummet after UnitedHealth, one of the biggest listed companies, warned that an increase in non-urgent procedures was driving up costs.  Thanks to patients putting off procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic, UnitedHealth and other insurers benefitted greatly. Now, seniors and other patients are electing to go through with their delayed non-urgent procedures, causing the insurance companies to cover more. Seniors are now "more comfortable accessing services for things that they might have pushed off a bit, like knees and hips," said Tim Noel, who leads UnitedHealth's Medicare and retirement business, UnitedHealth is valued at more than $400B. It saw its shares drop more than 7% while fellow insurers Humana, CVS Health, and Cigna all saw decreases of 12%, 6%, and 4%, respectively.